Do you ever speak some language from another planet?
This Hafiz quote makes me think about one of my favorites books, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
It is a complex story about many lessons we must learn in life, but the greatest of these is the lesson the one revealed through the prince’s love for his rose. The prince leaves his planet because of the rose; the rose permeates the prince’s discussions with the narrator on Earth when he crash landed in the desert; and eventually, the rose becomes the reason the prince wants to return to his planet. At first, the narrator exclaims that fixing his engine is more serious than listening to the prince’s stories about whether the sheep the narrator has drawn for him will eat his beloved rose. The Little Prince begs the narrator to consider the "seriousness" of one loving a flower "of which just one example exists among all the millions and millions of stars". For if the sheep ate the flower, "then for him it’s as if, suddenly, all the stars went out. And that isn’t important?" The Little Prince truly loves the rose, and as the story progresses, the narrator begins to understand this.
The Little Prince's own understanding is magnified when he met the fox (the character that provides the iconic quote of this novella) on Earth, "Here is my secret. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. . . It’s the time that you spent with your rose that makes your rose so important. . . People have forgotten this truth,” the fox said, “But you mustn’t forget it."
At the end, the narrator finally does understand that the greatest privilege of this world is investing time in loving another. He concludes "Look up at the sky. Ask yourself, “Has the sheep eaten the flower or not?” And you’ll see how everything changes. . ."
This Hafiz quote makes me think about one of my favorites books, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
It is a complex story about many lessons we must learn in life, but the greatest of these is the lesson the one revealed through the prince’s love for his rose. The prince leaves his planet because of the rose; the rose permeates the prince’s discussions with the narrator on Earth when he crash landed in the desert; and eventually, the rose becomes the reason the prince wants to return to his planet. At first, the narrator exclaims that fixing his engine is more serious than listening to the prince’s stories about whether the sheep the narrator has drawn for him will eat his beloved rose. The Little Prince begs the narrator to consider the "seriousness" of one loving a flower "of which just one example exists among all the millions and millions of stars". For if the sheep ate the flower, "then for him it’s as if, suddenly, all the stars went out. And that isn’t important?" The Little Prince truly loves the rose, and as the story progresses, the narrator begins to understand this.
The Little Prince's own understanding is magnified when he met the fox (the character that provides the iconic quote of this novella) on Earth, "Here is my secret. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. . . It’s the time that you spent with your rose that makes your rose so important. . . People have forgotten this truth,” the fox said, “But you mustn’t forget it."
At the end, the narrator finally does understand that the greatest privilege of this world is investing time in loving another. He concludes "Look up at the sky. Ask yourself, “Has the sheep eaten the flower or not?” And you’ll see how everything changes. . ."
The Little Prince Drawing Number One
(Those who have read the book will understand
the significance of this first drawing).
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